Sports Enthused
by Hitome-Chan
Summary: Percy fell for the Prince of Ghost, Nico di Angelo, and through a series of sports related events finds himself unable to even stand from embarrassment. Percy/Nico


**Sports Enthused**

**Author's Notes: **Ok. So I was watching Baseball and this little one-shot (maybe more) popped up into my head. Personally I don't really care for sports, but who am I to stop cute guys in uniform from running back and forth for my amusement? Eh. Anyway, I'm trying to branch out with series a bit more since I'm not such an anime-addict anymore and I just don't have the same drive for my anime stories as I did when I started this account, what, three—four years ago? Haha. I feel old, even if I started this thing when I had freshly turned sixteen. Oh well, you don't want to hear the rambling of a young old man, onward to the Percy/Nico fanfiction. (Not a new chapter, just an edit to all the grammar mistakes)

**Warning: **Since I don't normally write for this particular series I guess a warning is in order so I may become inducted into it. My main pairings are only slash, there will be secondary characters in my work who are canon or who could be a canon pairing, but personally I write male x male, I don't discourage "flames" (because I'm secretly a review whore, and no review is a bad review!) but if you criticize unjustly believe that I will answer you in a kind, whimsical, and although probably not timely, but taunting manner. Especially if there are misspellings out the wazoo.

I try to respond to all reviews, but being as how I have waning internet privileges and can only upload when by the grace of some deity (namely God, but anyone will do, Zeus maybe…?) I can get on I have a small timeframe in which to reply. So it's either get back to you guys or do a quick thanks to the readers in the body of the fiction itself than to sit and try to be sincere in a rushed reply. So I'll say it here, I thank each and every person who takes the time to read, comment, or dislike this little creation, your time means a lot to me. Now please enjoy! (Additional note: this is sort of between being in-universe and AU when the story needs it, you'll see what I mean)

**Football (Soccer)**

The thing is, I have a crush on someone. Wait. Wait. Don't go. I know what you're thinking. '_Shit, another teenage love story_,' and I wouldn't hate you if you did. But at least give me a chance to explain. I have something that a lot of those other kids don't—common sense. I mean hell, Romeo and Juliet was the poison really necessary? You guys were teenagers. And I guess for the more modern, Twilight—I don't have a bad word to say against it, but come on Bells date someone who doesn't want to kill you. Crap. Okay, so yes I read the damned books. Don't tell Annabeth or Grover or I swear to my Dad I'll hunt you down.

Anyway, this is all very much beside the point. My point was on this kid I knew named Nico. Yes, Nico is a boy's name. But not just any boy, oh no, I know how to pick 'em. Nico di Angelo is the son of Hades, my uncle—hold on there, our god parents don't pass down any genetic code so Nico and I aren't cousins, believe me I'd been sick to my stomach when I first thought about it like that too. But then you realize that the only thing "genetic" your god parents give you might be demeanor, but most especially power.

Saying all that it leads me up to this: I was watching our team play soccer from the bench, I was good but something always seemed to distract me. Namely the object of my infatuation. As the ball traveled back and forth between goals I couldn't help thinking how nice his legs looked in those incredibly short shorts, they rode up just enough for me to see his Underarmour. It was incredibly erotic, even if he had only just turned seventeen to my nineteen. Maybe if I would have been able to become that "older brother mentor" for him that I should have then it might not have turned out this way. But I was sitting there, _drooling_ over his legs.

He jumped over a son of Apollo who had gone for a shin kick and I swear time stopped. I caught a flash of olive colored stomach, and a midnight colored happy trail. There was absolutely no way I could even stand again for another fifteen minutes with that image burned in my mind. I tried to will both the picture and my erection away as quickly as possible.

"You okay, Percy?" Chiron stared down at me with his concerned brown eyes. I managed a smile, even though I knew he could see through it and read me like a book.

"I'm fine, just kinda tired, I stayed up late last night," _Thining of Nico_, is how I wanted to finish the sentence, but I refrained, I knew Chiron had some idea of what I was feeling, and that wasn't a conversation I wanted to have with the uncle figure in my life.

"Mm," He observed, he didn't look like he bought the story but sighed, closing his eyes. "Try to get some sleep tonight, okay kid?" Then he blew his coach's whistle and stamped one of his hooves against the ground. "Foul!" He announced and I faded out again.

Nico was a beautiful youth, he'd grown tall over the past few summers that I'd known him, taller than me at least, which might have attested to why it was so difficult to be that "older brother" to him. He had shoulder length black hair, it was curlier than I thought was possible, but had such body to it. Hard, black eyes that stared at the world with a slightly apathetic view, but if you'd gone through what he'd gone through then you wouldn't be the most cheery person either. Normally he was wearing all black, almost like an homage to his father or something—or maybe he was still mourning the loss of his sister, but for today's activity he was in the appointed team color: white, with a red trim. It complimented him in every way.

The game was over before I knew it, and lucky for my team I hadn't gone in. I don't know what I would've done if I would have had to defend against Nico, to check him, I might have even launched myself at him in a fit of pure teenage hormonal lust. We were sent to the showers, and I followed the other boys into our appointed locker room separate from the girls and began to undress. Connor Stoll, a son of Hermes, was smiling widely at me when I was out of my shirt.

"Didn't play again today, Percy?" He asked in an almost innocent voice.

"Apparently," I tried to steer away from him when I wrapped a towel around my waist and dropped my shorts. The steam from the showers around us was soon in the air. The showers at the Camp were probably the best for two reasons, one: they were engineered by the children of Hephaestus and as such had the most excellent water pressure anyone could ask for. And two, considering how ADHD the camp kids were when they were sent to clean the showers they noticed every spec of dirt, even if it meant being distracted from the current thing they were cleaning.

I turned to walk into the actual showering area when Connor called after me. "Doesn't have anything to do with that Nico kid does it?" I stopped mid-step, and he laughed. "I knew it. You're gay." I turned around suddenly on the balls of my feet with my face burning. I knew I had to be red from head to toe. When I saw the smug smile on his face I nearly lost it, I felt the surge of all the water around us, it rolled through me like a second nature. The locker room shuddered from my effort, I blinked and pulled the strength that was coursing through me, causing the pipes to squeal loudly, a few of the kids in the showers shouted at the sudden jettisons of water that hit them hard in the chests.

"Calm down Jackson," He laughed. "It's not like it matters, you really just can't hide much from my cabin, y'know?"

"Your _entire _cabin knows?" I nearly shouted and the building shook again.

"Look, we gather information, even if its not intentional a lot of the time, my cabin guesses, but you just sort of confirmed it." I liked Connor, not like I liked Nico mind you, but he was a cool guy when he wasn't playing pranks on people.

"If you so much as tell anyone else—you or anyone else in your cabin—" I don't know why I was upset, probably because I had wanted to be the one to come out, I didn't want people guessing, or even being able to guess at my sexuality. He held up his hands in a surrendering manner to stop me though.

"Hey, hey, does that sound like something we'd do?" I only scowled at him. "I'll try to make sure that the word doesn't get around, I just wanted to see for myself." I shrugged, suddenly defensive.

"Whatever," And I continued on to the showers. I was so distracted by my thoughts that I didn't even notice who had the stall next to me, but it was probably best that I didn't, instead I washed, dressed, and trudged back to my own cabin.

* * *

"Brother!" I smiled slightly at the sight of my "younger brother" Tyson the Cyclops. He was a simple creature, lovable, and rather good in the forges. He helped make the shield I carried around concealed in my watch if you needed any proof.

"Hey Tyson," I said nearly choking from the hug he gave me. "What're you doing up from Dad's?"

"Daddy said I could have a…a break! So I am visiting brother and Uncle Hephaestus' workshop!"

I laughed as he set me down. "Okay, buddy. Well why don't you head over that way and I'll see you at lunch time?" Tyson clapped his hands together, sending vibrations through my entire body, one of his hands was about the same size as my torso. Hugging me tightly again he skipped away giddily, and I watched him go. I loved the big guy, in the forever changing world he, my mom, and Paul Blofis were the few people I could count on to stay the same. Well, Grover and Annabeth too, but with Grover being the new Pan I hardly got to see him and well, Annabeth was a sensitive subject, she hardly talked to me since we'd broken up last Summer.

I went to the lake, something just took me that way, it was better than just sitting all alone in my room with my thoughts. The pull of the water was comforting as I got closer, I could smell faint traces of salt in the air, the lake lead to the ocean, and the larger body of water had a much stronger scent.

I stopped when I reached the shore. Standing there in a pair of swimming trunks, trunks mind you not boardshorts, was Nico di Angelo. He was outlined by the rising sun, bathing him gold in the otherwise pinkish backdrop. He must have heard my footsteps because he turned towards me, brief surprise flickering on his face, then it receded into blankness.

"Percy," He said lowly, turning away from me, I wanted to walk up and hold him. He looked so serene. "Sorry, I was just going for a swim, it helps relax me sometimes." He paused and then knelt to pick up his shirt and a pair of black flip-flops.

"No!" I exclaimed, my hand shooting forward as if to stop him. "I—I mean don't go, I was just coming out here to clear my head too, no reason we can't do it…together." Nico looked like he was considering it for a moment and I went forward, stepping beside him and shirking off my shoes. "How's the water?" I asked, noticing beads of lake water rolling off his face and gulping down the urge to reach out and wipe them away.

"Does it matter to you?" He said, a very minute smile gracing his fleshy lips. My heart stopped for a minute. "It's cold, but it's warm outside, so its a nice mix." He said simply and walked to the dock and taking a seat. I took off my socks, and then my shirt and followed after him. I sat on the edge of the dock, dipping my feet in and willing them to moisten. The cool thing about being the son of Poseidon is the ability to breathe underwater, and you never have to bring a change of clothes since you don't have to get wet if you don't want to; also I can go as deep underwater as I want and the pressure doesn't seem to affect me.

I cleared my throat. "What—er, what were you thinking about?" His onyx eyes reflected the glare of the sun from the water for a moment and his skin colored lips parted, I watched the skin separate slowly and I found myself wetting my own lips, swallowing hard.

"I was thinking about Bianca." He said after a few moments. "Yesterday was her birthday, Chiron helped me celebrate it, and when he went back home I called her from the Underworld and wished her a happy one."

"Oh," I said, the breeze blew around us, goose-pimpling my skin. "I'm—I mean I didn't know, Nico. If I would have I would've celebrated with you." Nico gave me a far off smile, one that reminded me painfully of that little boy with the playing cards right before we were attacked by that Manitcore.

"Thanks, Percy." Nico said, hands folded in his lap.

"It's what best friends are for," I said giving my best smile and ruffling his hair, I pulled my hand back quickly and reminded myself that he wasn't that same little boy anymore, that he was at sometimes-most times-more grown-up than I could have wished to be. He perked up considerably after that and the smile left his lips a lot more slowly this time.

"Best friends, Percy?" He said skeptically with a dry chuckle.

"I consider you one of my best friends, Nico." I told him, resting my weight on my arms. I could smell him, he had a sweet earthen scent and I unconsciously leaned into him a little.

"Oh," He said and this time I felt my smile falter.

"Do you not consider me one of your friends?" I asked, my voice sounded hurt, more than I wanted it to, his eyes filled with recognition and suddenly he looked apologetic.

"Sorry Percy, I didn't mean it like that." He gave my shoulder a push with his and then leaned against me again. "You—you're my best friend too, I'm just—Bianca was the social one between us, she made friends for us. I don't really know how to be friends with someone."

I stared at him openly again as he watched the calm water.

"It's not that hard," I smiled. "You're doing pretty well right now." This time he gave me a real smile and I had to catch my breath. "Come on, let's swim for a bit." I said, really hoping the water was as cold as he said for my own selfish reasons. And we did, we swam, we horsed around in the water for a while and I was surprised that Bessie didn't make an appearance, or some of his other sea friends, maybe they felt that I wanted to be alone for a while with the son of Hades.

When we made it back to the shore we were splashing and laughing and tripping over each other. We fell on the grass soon after emerging from the water, the sun was high in the sky indicating that it was at least noon.

"Oh man," I said from my grassy bed. "We should really go to the dining hall," I said as my stomach started to rumble. Nico shook his shaggy hair spraying me, causing me to laugh because I let the spray penetrate my airtight bubble, and brought a hand to his stomach.

"You're right, I'm pretty hungry myself," He hopped up holding a hand out to me. I took it and immediately we were both dry. He looked surprised but I couldn't help but laugh. "That's a pretty neat trick, fish boy." He smiled, pulling on his black tee with the skull on the front.

"Yeah, I can be pretty awesome sometimes," I said with a huge grin. I pulled my shirt over my head and watched him go over to a tree, grabbing something I hadn't seen there before, his aviator jacket. He slung it across his forearm and slid his flip-flops on just as I was lacing my shoes. We walked in silence for a few minutes, comfortably exchanging body heat in an inconspicuous manner. When we walked into the dining hall I looked towards my table, there was Tyson…sitting with Annabeth.

Nico was making his way off to his own table when I caught him by the wrist. I looked around again to see if anyone had noticed, sadly Hermes' table were all giving me thumbs up. I sighed, which made Nico give me a quizzical stare, or it might have been because I held his wrist tenderly in my hands. "Why don't you sit with us?" I asked, and suddenly the first time I'd done this and he'd shot me down popped up in my head, would he do the same now?

"I—uh—yeah, sure." He said, and I swear there was the slightest hint of a blush to his face. I led him back to my table, Poseidon's table, and only when we were seated did I realize I still had his wrist in my hand.

"Sorry," I nearly exclaimed, letting him go.

"It's okay," He said quietly, eyes finding the table. Annabeth gave me a weird stare and looked between us but she seemed to let it go.

"Percy, Tyson was just telling me about life in your dad's palace," She said, giving me a look that meant she knew something was up. I nodded and looked over at Tyson, he was smiling that big goofy grin that I couldn't help but mimic.

"I see the family resemblance now," Nico said with a small chuckle causing Annabeth to laugh as well and, suddenly, everything seemed normal again.

"Hey, we're handsome guys, what can we say?" I asked nudging Tyson's huge arm, his smile grew even wider.

"Handsome!" He laughed slapping his hands on the table, making the poor wood squeak. We ate our bounty and then raked off some food into the fire as sacrifice for our parents; I always put in extra for a special goddess I knew who deserved more recognition: the goddess of home and the hearth, Hestia. When I did a sense of home would always flood comfortably into me, as if she was saying thank you.

"I hope you guys are enjoying the 'lax weekend, come Monday we're going back to training." Chiron announced when we were all gathered around him. Mr. D., otherwise known as Dionysus, was sipping a glass of wine slowly. Zeus had shortened his sentence to only fifty years and reprieved his 'no alcohol' stipulation and Mr. D. seemed much happier with his readily available supply of wine.

We retired that night with everyone going to their respective cabins, I went to sleep that night with Tyson in the other bed and I remembered how much I had missed his snoring. In truth there had been too much silence after I'd gotten used to it. I fell asleep that night and got the best night's sleep I'd had for a while. When I woke up he was gone again and I was gripped by a small sense of loneliness, but I shirked it to the side. I knew he'd be back.

**Frisbee**

I got up and had a bath, then I brushed my teeth and got dressed. I donned a plain blue shirt and some khaki shorts, then I put on a worn pair of Nikes and left. I was greeted by Conner Stoll and the entire Hermes cabin when I disembarked into the more recreational part of camp.

"What…what's going on?" I asked as they surrounded me.

"We decided to help push you in the right direction," Conner said, it took a minute before it dawned on me what he meant.

"Wait, no—no thanks, I don't really need help, I'm doing fine on my own." I said, but there was no way I could get around the small militia of children Hermes had sired. "Look, I appreciate the sudden interest in my love life but—"

"Your love life?" A rugged looking blonde girl asked, I slightly recognized her, her name was Abigail that much I knew. "Look Percy, we don't really care about your love life, but that Nico kid is scary."

"Yeah," A large portion of the group agreed.

"A bunch of us thought that maybe if we could pair him off with someone maybe he'd seem a little more human," Abigail explained.

"Half-human," Someone piped up, which earned a laugh from the kids who coped better with what we were. Abigail rolled her pretty brown eyes and I swallowed.

"This isn't my problem," I decided and turned back for my cabin, but they circled around me.

"It isn't," Travis, Conner's twin brother, and co-head of Hermes cabin said. "But you'd be doing us a huge favor if you just made your move already, Percy."

"Are you guys all really that scared of Nico?" I asked. "He's just like you! I wouldn't be surprised if some of the stuff you guys did scared him."

"What? The ability to not get lost? Ooh, scary." Abigail said with a bit of disdain.

"Maybe we'll treat one of his wounds when he gets injured, real frightening," Someone else said. I huffed, the kids in Hermes' cabin weren't always the easiest to deal with. Normally their dad baled before they were even old enough to know what was going on, and the women he left them with weren't always of the sanest nature. They banded together like a family though and took care of each other better than any military.

"Look, guys. I know Conner told you about me, and I really do like Nico, but I think he just wants to be friends, okay? I don't even think he's…not straight." I said, unable to bring myself to form the word 'gay'. It still felt strange in my mouth and in my mind, I didn't feel it, I mean I saw gay guys on TV all the time and they were lisping and flipping their wrists and wearing really frilly clothes, which might have been a reason I fought my thoughts of other boys so long.

I wasn't like that. But I did have an attraction to guys, one that was ten times stronger than any attraction I'd ever felt towards a girl. I still got flustered around the fairer sex, yes, but that was because I still don't really know how to talk to girls either. I do alright, with Annabeth's help, and Juniper's whenever she isn't sucking face with Grover, and even Rachel Elizabeth Dare's when she's not proclaiming prophecies. I mean I had found Luke…nice looking, and Grover wouldn't be that bad if his lower half wasn't a goat's, and tons of guys at Camp all caught my attention. But, still I didn't feel for them what I felt for Nico, with him it was like eating way too much ambrosia, the feeling of being burnt to a crisp but in such a way that you didn't care.

"Well he certainly doesn't like girls," That caught my attention, I snapped my head around and found a haunting pair of blue eyes locked on mine. This girl she had red hair so fierce it reminded me of Rachel's, but she had the muscles of a traveler, she was thin almost to the point of gauntness, but her shape was helped by the still developing curves of her hips and her bust. She was as tall as me and her arms were folded, a small scowl on her face.

"What does that mean?" I asked confoundedly.

"Don't mind Giselle, she's just a bit upset cause Nico turned her down, she was our last resort after we sent all the girls in our cabin to try to persuade him to finding someone. He even declined the girls in Aphrodite's cabin, albeit a bit more politely." Chris Rodriguez, a young man who was in a relationship with Clarisse La Rue, a daughter of Aries, said. I looked at Chris like he'd grown a second head.

"It's true," Conner said putting a hand on Giselle's shoulder, she shirked it off and I had a feeling it wasn't the first time she'd ever stopped someone from embracing her in a comforting manner.

"That—that doesn't mean he'll like me," I finally said, backing up and finding a seat on a large flat rock. I had to think, I mean, if I acted and Nico didn't like me then yesterday would have been for nothing, but if he did like guys, more specifically me—

"So you'll try harder? We could always go back to those Aphrodite girls and make him fall in love with someone, they're pretty peeved about the whole thing, I don't think anyone's ever said no to them." Conner smiled widely like the whole thing was hilarious.

"I can't make any promises," It took a while for me to say, the very thought of rejection had my stomach turning and doing little flips. "But I do want to try."

"Good, cause if you said 'no' we were going to spike his drink with a love potion." Travis said easily, as if that were something normal. I gawked at their blatancy, but they each began clasping me on the shoulder, giving me meaningful glances and began walking towards the field to see what activity we were doing today. When the twins were the last one over the hill that led to the field I only stared after them.

"What was that all about?" I jumped a good five feet in the air at the sound of Annabeth's voice, a few of Athena's kids went traipsing towards the field but she stood in front of me with her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and sensible outdoor wear on. That's why it was always so easy to talk to her, she wasn't like the other girls, even if there weren't very many 'normal' girls in Camp, I could always relate to Annabeth.

"Um…I—they just wanted to talk," I said, but she was already unraveling what had come out of my mouth, I could see it in her intelligent eyes. She smirked.

"You like Nico." It wasn't an accusation, it was a statement. Gods! Was I that transparent, really? I thought I hid it well. "You suck at hiding it, you know?" I sighed and hunched over, defeated. She laughed. "Well, this explains why it didn't work out between us, I was up for days at a time trying to analyze the exact moment that our relationship had gone awry. I thought perhaps if I approached it like an equation, you being 'r' and me being 'h' that I could diffuse—"

"Annabeth," I held up a hand, I was getting a headache listening to her. "You know I can only speak English."

"And Ancient Greek if the situation calls for it," She said with a smirk. "What I mean to say is that I'm glad that it's cleared up." Her smiled turned easy and she grabbed me by the arm, steering me towards the field.

"You mean you don't…mind?" I asked uneasily, unable to look up still.

"Mind?" We suddenly stopped and she turned her full attention on me, I hated how her gaze made me feel analyzed, it was like she was deconstructing my molecular structure whenever she stared at me like that. "Please, Perce, you think you're the first kid who's like someone of their gender? Some of the ancient male Grecians used to have their own young lovers, it was a common practice and heavily encouraged, especially among soldiers. I don't think anyone around here—well anyone that matters—is going to care. Have you told Grover?"

"Gods no," I sighed as we rounded up to the field, all the cabins were gathered around and I felt my feet slowly becoming lead.

"Come on, Percy, Grover'll be happy if you're happy." Annabeth laughed. We found our way down to where everyone was gathered and I caught a glimpse of Nico leaning against a tree. He flashed me one of his rare smiles and I nearly ran to him. Annabeth took notice of him and motioned for him to come sit with us. For a moment he looked stunned, but slinked forward, his Aviator jacket around his shoulders even in this Gods awful heat.

"I don't see how you can stand all that black," Annabeth remarked as he sat cross legged next to me. "I mean, it's almost one hundred degrees out here."

"The heat doesn't bother me," Nico shrugged. "Being the son of the King of the Dead you're kind of cold all the time and you get used to it." Annabeth considered that and shrugged.

"Whatever you say, Ghost Prince." She smiled, before he could retort Chiron's powerful voice stretched over the lot of us.

"Today," He said in his deep brays. "we're going to be continuing in the 'taking it easy' style of the weekend. That doesn't mean I want you guys not to take it seriously, play it like you were defending yourselves with swords and shield."

"What's the game?" Clarissa's clear voice rung out, I looked over at her. The big brute of a girl I'd first known was still very much there in her appearance, but something seemed softer about her now, and I realized it was the fact that she was holding hands unabashed with Chris Rodriguez and couldn't look much happier.

Then it dawned on me that their relationship was probably where the Hermes cabin had come up with the idea that Nico would be less scary if he was with someone. If it had worked for the bully Clarissa why not someone else?

"Good question, we're going to be playing Ultimate Frisbee, which is like gridiron only with a discus." Chiron smiled and tossed his long brown hair over his shoulder. A few of the girls sighed and I rolled my eyes. I could see the appeal, he wasn't a bad looking guy, but…but he was Chiron. He was our teacher for Gods' sake! And if that wasn't enough he was a mentor to just about every kid on the campground. "We'll split up into teams of gold and silver today, winners get first pick at dinner tonight." That seemed to rouse the camp and Chiron smiled. "Settle down, okay. This side you're gold," He motioned to the half of kids on side. "And this side you're silver." He said to the other side, the teams seemed pretty even, even if the others had more Aries kids, who were known for their ruthlessness. "Alright, your uniforms are in the locker rooms, I want you guys back out here in five minutes."

We headed to our respective lockers. Nico took the locker next to mine and I couldn't help watching him undress from the corner of my eye. He started with his jeans, shimmying them down his strong, pale legs, they were hairy, hairier than I would have expected, but that only brought on more fantasy. I trailed my peripheral vision up to his boxer shorts, the fabric was about five inches in length, but they were loose and they outlined his loins really well. _Really well_. I gulped, feeling more than a little aroused. He took off his shirt next and I was treated to the sight of his smooth chest and the ebony colored happy trail that led from navel to groin. I tore my eyes away and quickly dressed before I could get completely hard. When I was clothed I made a mad dash towards the door. "I'll see you out there!" I called behind me leaving Nico slightly confused, but he shrugged and finished dressing. A minute passed and he emerged from the lockers that were directly adjacent from the field, he came and stood by my side and I appreciated the small look of concern on his face.

"You alright, Perce?" I nodded and he rubbed my hair the way I'd done his the previous day. "Just making sure." His touch sent a jolt through me and I breathed in when he pulled his hand away, without it there I felt my happiness lessen just a bit, but I pulled myself together quickly enough. "I hope you play better today than you have recently, fish boy." He said with a smirk.

I punched his arm and he laughed. "Don't worry about me, you just be glad we're on the same team so I won't have to blow you out of the water, Ghost Prince."

"Was that a Poseidon pun? How original." Nico said elbowing me lightly. I smiled and then Chiron cleared his throat again.

"Alright guys, I want my gold team on this side," he pointed to a neon orange goal he must've set up while we were changing. "And my silver team on this side," He motioned to another goal on the other side of the field. "Gold always kicks off. The object of the game is to score in the other team's goal by catching the discus there. You're not allowed more than two steps with the Frisbee in your hand, understood?" He tossed the disc to Clarissa, who had assumed team leader status of gold, ironically Chris was apparently the captain of the silver side. I wasn't sure if she would pull punches or not, knowing her though—probably not. "Commence!" Chiron shouted and the game was underway.

I can happily say that I was only distracted once by Nico when he was pushed into me and we went tumbling to the ground, ending with me straddling his hips awkwardly. I blushed a little, but deeper still when the catcalls started. I jumped up and helped him to his feet, trying not to think of how perfect he felt underneath me. "Sorry," I breathed, knowing how red my face must have been.

"'S'okay. I didn't mind." He said with a smile, patting me on the shoulder and taking off after the Frisbee. After that I let all coherent thought go and focused on the game. I scored twice in the first round out of the seven times we had to score to win. We won two of the four games we played, it was the most fun I'd had all weekend. Nico high fived me after I brought a touchdown to the goal and I couldn't help but smile when we clasped hands.

Annabeth smirked at me knowingly and I only rolled my eyes, and watched the disc sail through the air. One of the Demeter kids was making the grass nearly impossible to walk through, let alone run in, as it kept grabbing at our feet. But, thankfully most of the cabins were split up equally so for every kid that tripped over the grass another went flying by. It was the last point of the game, six to six even. One of my teammates caught it and tossed it back towards us. It soared over my head but Nico caught it, Annabeth and I did a mad dash toward the end-zone again, she still got there before me and I attributed it to her years of training before I'd even come to camp. By the time I made it to the goal she was clasping her hands around the Frisbee and Chiron blew his whistle.

"Good game today, everybody. I think we'll call it quits. Tomorrow's a free day so do with it what you will, then we're back to the norm. I want my senior campers to head our activities. If anyone needs me I'll be in the woods, otherwise you're dismissed." Hey blew his whistle again and we began dispersing like ants from an anthill.

Conner, or maybe it was Travis, shoulder past me. "Don't forget," He whispered and I sighed. The worst Nico could say was no, I guess. Well, the worst he could say was: 'You effing fag, I don't ever want to see your face again.' But that didn't sound like anything he'd say. At least I hoped it didn't.

"Percy?" I looked up, it was Nico and he looked concerned. "Can I talk to you about something?" My heart started pounding, but I nodded my head. He didn't smile, but instead nodded his head in a direction and started walking. I took the incentive to follow after him. "Do you know a girl named Abigail? She's one of Hermes' kids." I swallowed a hard lump in my throat.

"I—I know her, yeah." I stuttered. "Wh—what about her?"

"She asked me out the other week, it was the strangest thing because all the girls in her entire cabin asked me out before that, I still don't know why, and then all the girls in the Aphrodite cabin did the same thing." He said, watching the ground as we walked.

"What did you tell them?" I asked, my heart still beating twice as hard as it should have been.

He gave a small, minute smile then. "I told them no, of course." He said easily, then we stopped. I looked around and noticed we were in the woods. "But anyway, Abigail came to talk to me after the game. I thought she was going to ask me out again, which would have been awkward, but instead she told me something interesting. Something about you."

His black eyes were full of questions, I looked away from his gaze, it was too heavy to meet. "What did she say?"

"Well," He folded his arms across his chest and settled against a tree. "She told me that someone I was close to had a crush on me, she said that it was more than a crush. And, she told me it was a guy, the thing is you're my only real friend, Percy, so I figured it had to be you." I couldn't breathe, and I felt myself slump forward. "Is it true?"

I didn't say anything, instead I turned my attention to the woods around us. Nymphs were running around barely distinguishable from the trees themselves. The birds were quiet, as if they were waiting on my response. Something grabbed my chin, and then there was an arm around my back. "Nico…"

"Percy, is it true?" I looked up into those eyes and he was smiling widely, grinning even.

"…yes." I finally said, it left me without air and my knees buckled underneath me. Nico pushed me against a tree.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" His breath was a cold whisper in my ear, I shivered as his lukewarm skin made contact with mine.

"I was afraid of what you would say," I admitted, he was chuckling then and with his body pressed so closely against mine. In my stupor I forgot who I was and about the world around us.

" 'It's what best friends are for,' you said. You're sneaky, I almost believed all you ever wanted to be was friends." Then he did something I'd fantasized so many time about that I thought I was dreaming. He kissed me, it was a quick peck on the lips but it was enough to make my mind hazy. "How was that?" He said, still smiling.

"It was…wow." My mind still wasn't caught up with anything that was going on. "Wait—wait…Nico—"

"What's going on here?" It was Grover, his curly brown hair growing to his shoulders, and his his horns swirled around his head. His goatee was forked and he looked like a man, not the teenager I knew him to be. "Percy is that you?"

I stiffened. "Hi…,"

"Hey Grover," Nico said, smiling mischievously, when he did that I could see his dad's humor in his eyes. "Glad to see you're back, but could Percy talk to you later? We're in the middle of a conversation." His lips moved against mine and I met Grover's eyes, he looked uneasy, his eyebrows knitting together.

"Percy, is he forcing you to—" Nico looked hurt suddenly and I felt my cheeks burn.

"Well Percy, am I forcing you to do this?" He asked, and he looked blank again as I blinked at him.

"No," I said to both him and Grover. "I'm a little confused, I mean I think this means he likes me too, but I couldn't tell you."

"You can't tell?" Nico said and chuckled., I shook my head 'no'.

"Percy's always been a little slow about these sorts of things," Grover said, a small smiling finding its way over his lips. "Alright, well you guys don't be too long, I can't stay, but Juniper and I wanted to see you. We'll be hanging with Annabeth." Sure enough over his shoulder what I thought had been a tree smiled brilliantly and waved. I smiled back, still amazed that after all this time when the nymphs didn't want me to spot them I couldn't.

"We're so happy for you Percy!" She squealed.

"Um. Thanks?" I said, feeling my cheeks burn.

"Later man, remember not too long, I really miss hanging with you." Grover gave me one of his world famous smiles and I returned it, moving Nico out the way just a bit and clasping hands with Grover.

"Me too, man. I'll see you in ten—," The dark haired guy holding onto my sides pinched them a bit."Fifteen-" Again I jumped when his fingers caught between my obliques. "Twenty minutes." I said shooting him a glare, he only smiled with his eyes.

"I'll be timing you, come on Juniper." Grover grabbed her by her hand, which was blooming with flowers and leaves. She skipped along behind him and waved at us as she and my best friend the satyr made their way out of the woods, flowers and growth blooming over in their wake.

A pair lips found the back of my neck, I melted into those arms again and he pulled me against the tree again. "Twenty minutes is good," He said in my ear, and then his teeth were grazing the sensitive skin.

"Nico wait," I gasped.

"Wait for what, Percy? Children of the gods don't wait." I wrapped my arms around his neck, I couldn't help it. Then his lips were on mine again, I surrendered to the fury of his passion, like all the years of pent up anger, depression and sadness all came flooding into me in the form of lust. It was a difficult wave to ride, I lost myself in it for a long moment. I felt his hands travel under my shirt, we were still dressed out in our uniforms and his tepid fingers were strong as they worked my tee over my head. It was when he was grasping the waist of my shorts that I realized what was going on and how fast it was happening.

"Nico!" I said, moaning it a bit more than I wanted to. "Nico—wait!" I grabbed his hands in mine and held them, they were calloused from years of swords play like mine and I suddenly appreciated that small likeness between us. Nico gave me a dark look, his eyes were brooding.

"Percy, don't play with my emotions like this," He said in a strained voice. "Do you like me or don't you?"

"I like you Nico, I swear! I mean I can almost say that I love yo—that it's a lot stronger than like. But you've got to slow it down." I said, twisting our fingers together.

"I've known you for a long time, if we take this any slower we might as well just be friends," He said standing to his full height and towering over me, looking down at me with that repined look on his face.

"You never even said how you feel about me," I said, meeting his gaze with my own. "I just want to know for sure."

"I don't kiss people I don't like, Percy." Nico said, very seriously. "I just—I mean I want to do this because I never know how much time I have with someone. That's why I've been avoiding people, I can't get close to anyone, all that follows me is death."

"Nico," I breathed, I saw the emotions run over him. He'd been lonely for a long time. Kissed him gently and he wrapped his arms around my waist. "I'm not going anywhere for a long time, so we can slow it down a bit, okay?" He didn't seem to like that, but nodded all the same.

"You don't get this back though," He smirked suddenly, holding my shirt up. "We still got fifteen minutes to kill." I blushed again as I grabbed for my shirt, but he only yanked it out of my reach, laughing against my chest. The contact made me forget the shirt and I was all over him again. To this day I still can't watch Nico play any sport without wanting to jump him, and I think he's starting to get the hint. After that summer he applied to my college and got in and joined as many sports teams as he could.

He's evil in the best kind of way, and I love him.


End file.
